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This is What Happens When You Flush an Airplane Toilet

Have you ever wondered what really happened when you flush an airplane toilet? If you think that the remains get dropped in the sky, you’re wrong! The airplane actually has a cool system that takes care of the toilet waste and today, we’ll explore its history and give you some fun facts on “blue ice.” Stay tuned to find out what that is!

After you flush an airplane toilet, the waste gets disposed into a pneumatic vacuum, which came a long way since its beginnings. You’ll never believe what pilots had to do before that and what happened during strong turbulence, but we can tell you that it definitely wasn’t a pleasant experience for anyone on that plane.

The pneumatic vacuum then transports the waste into a tank, located on the plane. This tank stores the waste until the plane reaches the ground. From there, the ground team uses a truck which takes the flushed airplane toilet waste and dumps it somewhere outside the airport.

Have you ever heard of the term “blue ice”? It’s a result of the waste leaking from the toilet into the sky. Because of the low temperatures, the waste turns into ice and then drops back to the Earth at an impressive speed. Wait until you hear just how common blue ice is and how many people have witnessed airplane toilet waste leaking on the ground!

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you flush an airplane toilet, make sure to watch our video. Did you know that the modern airplane toilets were first installed in 1982? We can’t even imagine what happened during turbulence before that date!